Minutes from June 16 Board Meeting in Reno, at the Peppermill, in the Roma room, nice!

attendees: Graham S. Stafford, Dennis Porter, Jim Kudrna, Gil Grabow, Roger Farschon, Liz Margerum, Dave Cooper (plus, by proxy, David Book), Debbie Smith, Janet Moran, Matthew Ebert, Lucy Moreton-Hall, Jeff Barker, Lorraine Watson

on conference phone: Dan O'Day, Wayne DeGeere, Bill Carson

Dave Cooper opens, Quorum set:

Metric announces a new board member will be appointed

March meeting minutes approved

First item, Metric, Executive Director reports
Jalisco building rented by Friendsov for at least 5 years at $100 per month, with a $500 deposit
Purpose: radio station, storage, book store, member services, coffee shop, office, etc...
Ball-park figure for how much it is going to cost to get it in working order: $10,000, insured
Burning Man resources are wanting to be used to keep costs down. Should be able to get much volunteer help with this project. Owner of building is Ken Huff, based out of Reno

New Summer Vista introduced, Gil Grabow, his roles and responsibilities were mentioned

Budget: Discussed need in renting a radio, said that there was wiggle room for other costs

NRS status: $2,500 expected back from state, this is related to having under 4 employees

Grants: $5,000 coming from Nevada on Tourism for the Black Rock Desert

II. Treasurer Report: Janet Moran discusses the hand-out she brought, Friends of Black. Rock High Rock Statement of Financial Income and Expenses, January 1 through June 16.
Also the Profit and Loss statement
P and L Income: $90,000
Gross Profit: $85,000
Expenses: spent $79,000, have $6,000 unspent, and $9,000 in the bank

Metric: stated that Friends still have half of the BLM money in three quarters. Said we are at the 6th month point. Filled in Board on the solar project at the Visitor Contact Trailer in Gerlach. Talked about the license-plate project and said that it needs a board member to undersign it.

III. Executive Committee: David Cooper
Stated that changes to the by-laws were small. Mostly just the mission statement was added. Membership changes: amount set by Board, can extend and honorary membership, do not need to change by-laws in future.
20 hours of volunteering is suitable for a Friends membership.
Board members can only use proxy once a year.
Audit: needs to be done no less than every two years
H.R. policy: Dan O'Day did extensive, now it goes to Metric for finalization. Good C.Y.A.!
Will Roger had it run through the Burning Man legal team, so all agreed that was good.
Stated that future dates need to be set for quarterly meetings, and stressed that the Board only meets four times a year! Does not want to hear any excuses for not showing up.
"Better to be here in person!"
Board announced:
Dave Cooper, president
Janet Moran-treasurer, not Board member
Will Roger, vice-president, Board member not present due to serious motorcycle accident
David Book, secretary, had a conflict and was unable to attend meeting. Gil took minutes.
Matthew Ebert, executive director
Dates set for future meetings:
September 16th, Thursday, in Reno
December 4th, Saturday, in Gerlach
March 18th, Friday, in Reno
June 15th, Wednesday, in Reno

Lucy stated that she wanted to step down from her board position, and Graham said that he would step-up and fill it.

Graham talked a little about himself: he is a retired photographer, belongs to Sierra Club, an advocate for Nevada deserts and mountain regions, teaches photography, LOVES the Black Rock Desert, loves volunteerism, thinks that conservation is the key in saving desert for future generations, understands it has many uses, pledged to stay in this position for at least as long as Lucy, three years.

He suggested we make contact with Dirt Devils, based out of Reno, and did a little outreach, to better understand how they use the Black Rock Desert.

Lucy tendered her resignation, and Graham stepped up to take it. Welcome aboard! (Lucy made the motion, Debbie second, unanimous)
A special thanks was given to Lucy for her three years of service and a job well done.

IV. Conservation Committee
Guru Road restoration, July 4th, spread the word!, Frog-bat going on that night, National Public Lands Day recruitment will be done at these events and over the weekend.

Riparian project: Inventory tools will be created [by DRI & BLM] with G.P.S, and these kits will assist the volunteers.
Graham was asked to step up and chair this committee, and he agreed.
Jim K. stated that he had a fairly new map which shows where all the hot-springs are!

For National Public Lands Day, asked who leads, response was that we work "with" BLM.
Rainbow mine needs some working on, suggested this be one of the projects.
Stated that any artifact or site over 50 years old needs to be checked by an archaeologist

September 18-19 is the date. Dave Cooper stressed that partnership with the BLM is vital for Friends survival. All organized activities we do in the BRD have to go through them. We have an assistance agreement with them, and it states these very facts. Said we all need to support the BLM Resource Management Plan.

V. Education Committee, Matthew Ebert
Wayne made statement over the conference call, from Maine, that we were running long, so these subjects were covered quickly.

High Rock Canyon and Soldier Meadows brochures are almost ready for print. Jim stated that he had not had a chance to look at it before this time, and he would like to be directly kept in the loop due to his ownership of Soldier Meadows. He wants a map included. Metric pulled them up on the projector and everyone except for those on the phone got a chance to look at it. Jim and Jeff asked if it could be sent to them, and Metric agreed to send the brochures to all Board members for approval. There are also two more brochures in production, one Playa based
FBR has produced four BLM documents.
Jim stated that professor Don Noble, a top geologist did a study of the region at UNR and created a map of the region.
Metric stated that he did not want to spend Friends money on BLM brochures, would prefer that they cover all costs in creating and printing of Visitor Information guides.
About the F.M. radio station, we can need a $27,000 match to the PTFP grant for start-up, it will be 7 Kilo-watts, and we will need a 100 foot tower.
It involves many steps, and many hoops will have to be jumped through if to happen.
Loraine agrees to accept chair of Education Committee. Did good at this at Rendezvous.

VI. Fundraising Committee: Matthew Ebert
Total turn-out for Rendezvous was 135 participants
We were only $58 in the black
Many people are joining on-line
Stressed that we need to all work on selling sand-colored hoodies, to raise funds
Made the point that black hoodies are saved for hardcore volunteers
Working much with Black Rock Pizza and Great Basin Brewery, but Dave Cooper said we need to do more [corporate sponsorships], to go ask the Casino's for donation. Wanted someone to chair this committee who lives in Reno/Sparks for proximity benefits, but no one put a hand up, so Dave is now the chair for this committee until someone else comes along who wants it.

We did get a contribution from the Sierra Club.
Dave said that Board Members need to do more fund-raising.
Annual Reports have been created but not sent out, all told to make sure and get one. "Take Them!"
Dan O'Day still on fundraising committee, and wants to be.

Hat passed for Will, flowers will be sent. Everyone chipped in.

Meeting adjourned...